Around The World - It's A Wrap

Ireland was about as easy as it could get for an around the world journey. While traveling Ireland I kind of felt like I already had one foot back in the States. So many Irish have family in America and they love Americans. The majority of tourists in Ireland are from Germany and France. Speaking English made me feel even more connected to the Irish when a pub was filled with Europeans conversing in broken English as they struggled to understand a thick Irish accent. The icing on the cake was when I breezed through United States customs and immigration while still in the country at the Dublin Airport. Now that’s a first for me! Clearing U.S. Customs in a foreign country! Ireland is Easy with a capital E. If you have never been overseas or to Europe, start in Ireland.

I started my five month journey with a few days in Hong Kong. From there I spent 2 months in China with most of my time in the Yunnan and Szechuan provinces. Highlights of China included trekking in the Himalaya and spending time along the rarefied air of the China/Tibetan border. I capped off my time in China with a week and a half in Beijing which proved to be my favorite Chinese city.

From Beijing I hopped the Trans Mongolian railway to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia where I joined up with three other backpackers and we hired a local driver with a 4wd Russian made van for a tour of the wide open Mongolian Wilds. Unfortunately, due to Russian visa constraints, I had to leave Mongolia after just 2 ½ weeks and boarded a train for Russia and the Trans Siberian railway.

Russia was a pleasant surprise as I found, with just a little bit of effort, a seemingly hard and cold culture warmed up quickly with pleasant helpful smiles despite real language difficulties. Again, due to visa constraints I only had 2 ½ weeks to traverse the country by rail but made some great stops along the way. My favorite being Lake Baikal.

After visiting Lennon’s tomb and Red square in Moscow I hopped another train for Riga, Latvia which proved to be a lovely relaxing city with an over abundance of young 20 something women and young guys on the prowl from all over the world, every night. Riga made me laugh as the hostel was quiet every evening because most of the people staying at the hostel were young college aged men staying out until 7 am. I slept well as I’m not the type to pursue ladies all night who are young enough to be my daughter.

From Riga I traveled down to Lithuania and on to Warsaw, Poland. From Poland I blew across to Budapest then France. I kind of regret passing through Eastern Europe so fast. Eastern Europe is far more interesting than Western Europe and costs half as much than the West.

Once in France I took 3 weeks off from the traveling and planted myself next to small lake on the grounds of a Chateau near Mur de Solonge where I did a work exchange for the European Yoga Festival. The first week I really enjoyed but the last two weeks were a mixed bag. The highlight of my time spent in France was catching up with a good friend from Colorado who was attending the festival.

Leaving France was a bit of a low point for me as I was exhausted and plagued by three days of visual migraines which was quite unusual for me. The upside was that I was in the company of good friends from the festival as we made our way via Ferry to England.

In Britain I found my stride again, despite variable weather, as I walked for over 125 miles along the SW coast path of England. Miles of walking along with stops for pints at village pubs made me feel like my old self again. The walking left me feeling good.

From England I took a train to Wales and hopped a ferry to Cork, Ireland. From there I negotiated wacky weather up to a number of mountain tops including Carrauntuohil, Ireland's highest and Croagh Patrick where St. Patrick prayed for 40 days sometime during the 5th century. I hitched along the west coast in search of the perfect pint of Guinness which I naturally found in the East in Dublin when I poured it myself at the Guinness brewery.

I completed my travels with a rainy and at times VERY windy hike along the 80+ mile Wicklow way. It proved to be the perfect finish despite foul weather. It gave me time to mentally shift gears for home. The day before flying to the states I felt a satisfied “Done” kind of feeling. Just the kind of feeling you want for the flight home. I think I timed it right but once again I am astounded by how fast time passes. Five months felt like five weeks and at times, five days. All the more reasons to enjoy the gift of every moment.

So what did I learn? What are some takeaways? Well, here’s a few bullet points….

I really enjoy my own company and feel no need to rely on others for happiness. Expecting others to make you happy usually doesn’t work anyway…. Life is relatively easy as long as you don’t get in the way… Attitude creates your reality…. Money has a tendency to complicate life instead of making it easier…. Everybody in the world wants the same thing. To have a home, a job, to be with family, to be with friends and to feel safe…. Words get in the way of communication…. The universal language of kindness and peace is a smile…

Images From The Wicklow Way - Ireland

I just finished walking the 80+ mile Wicklow Way that extends north to south across the Wicklow mountains south of of Dublin. It was a blustery hike with plenty of rain along with sunny spells every now and then. I think Ireland gets the award for having the most unstable and changable weather of any place I've ever been. Nonetheless, the country is so beautiful that there's beauty to be seen no matter what the weather is doing.

Despite plenty of bad weather the hike proved to be exactly what I needed to wrap up over 5 months of travel and mentally shift gears for the trip back home.

With so much cloudy weather it was hard to take good photos on the hike but here's a few to give you an idea of what the Wicklow Way has to offer.

A Few More Days - Another Walk - Then Home

I should be home by now but when it came time for my predetermined flight time I just didn’t feel ready. You would think that after five months on the road I’d be more than ready but long term traveling has a way of becoming part of your identity. It becomes a way of life. I needed time to mentally shift gears and prepare myself for a transition back into a more conventional routine of work etc.

I called the airline and had no problem extending my time in abroad by six days in order to allow for one more excursion, a six day, eighty mile walk through the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. I figured a good long walk would give me plenty of time to think of where I’ve been and where I want to go next. I needed to clear my mind and reset my focus.

My route of travel, since the last post, took me through Connemara and Westport where I hiked to the summit of Croagh Patrick. It’s the mountain where St. Patrick apparently prayed for 40 days sometime during the 5th century. It’s obviously a Pilgrimage mountain that draws a lot of visitors but there’s no way around a good stiff uphill hike if you want to visit the top. For an average person it take's 2 to 3 hours to gain the summit. On a clear day the views are spectacular. I hiked up in a foggy mist but played the waiting game atop and was luckily rewarded, after about half an hour, with the parting of cloud and blissfully blue sky. It lasted long enough to thoroughly take in the wonderful view.

From Westport I took a train to Dublin and checked into a cheap hostel with a good location and headed to the famed Temple bar area for a couple of pints. I then swung by a supermarket to pick up a few supplies for the Wicklow hike.

The Wicklow way is an establish way marked trail/route through the Wicklow mountains that begin just south of Dublin. It runs point to point, north/south, for a little over 80 miles. To begin the hike I simply walked to the bus stop directly in front of the hostel and rode #16 to Marley Park. From there I began hiking south.

The way is clearly marked with posts decorted by a yellow colored hiker silhouette and arrow. If you pay attention to the map and where you’re going the route is simple to follow. The way avoids towns but there’s an assortment of convenient accommodation options close to the trail or you camp.

As I write this post it’s my last night on the Wicklow way. I’m sharing a small bunkroom at a B&B with another hiker I met a couple of days ago from Belgium. Yesterday we camped in a farmer’s field while it rained all night long.

This morning we packed up a wet camp in rain and hiked on into the fog but by afternoon the skies became partly cloudy. That’s when the wind picked up. It only seemed fitting that we consume a pint at the small quaint 200+ year old Dying Cow pub before continuing a little further. Our end goal was a rural B&B that allowed camping. In exchange for a small fee there’s access to shower and cooking shelter.

There was no one at the simple B&B when we arrived but an older couple showed up and said their daughter owned the place. The wind was gaining force and camping was looking less and less appealing. The older couple let us in and fixed us a cup of tea while they tried to get their daughter on the phone. They didn’t want to let us go. In the end we settled on a wind free cozy bunkroom with a large full Irish Breakfast in the morning for 25 Euro each. The place is very quiet. The Belgian and I are the only ones here. It’s 9 pm and we still haven’t met the owner. I guess we will see her in the morning as she lives on property.

The walk along the Wicklow way has been quite lovely despite mostly rainy weather along with very strong winds on the higher ridges. Tomorrow I’ll finish it up and try to get back to Dublin by the evening. If not I’ll head to Dublin Monday morning and catch my flight home the following day. I’ll definitely be ready to go back to the States by then. All in all it's been exactly what I needed before going home.

Standing With A Sign At The Crossroads - Ireland

I awoke in my tent next to a river just outside a hostel in Doolin and made an executive decision to catch the 11:45 bus to Galway instead of the 8:45. Not a bad plan but I was unaware that the tourist season in Ireland ended precisely on August 27. The 11:45 was no longer an option so I’d have to wait until 1:45. It was 10 am and I was ready to go.

I found an empty cereal box, tore it apart and barrowed a marker from the hostel. I then headed out to a crossroads with a sign saying “Galway” to see what would happen. There were four options for getting to Galway from Doolin. Three different roads and a boat via the Aran Islands. I really didn’t have much of plan except that I thought it would be a good idea to go to Galway.

I stood with sign held in hand as people passed me by. Most gave me an apologetic expression. One exceptionally apologetic looking passerby stopped a bit far ahead and rolled back in reverse. With a thick Polish accent he said, “I can give you a ride to the next village where you will get a ride no problem”. The next village was just a few miles away. I noticed his checkered chef pants and assumed he was a breakfast chef/cook for a local B&B. Sure enough he was.

I never caught the name of my new Polish friend but he was extremely helpful and friendly. Aside of a thick accent his English was quite good. When he immigrated to Ireland 8 years ago he couldn’t speak a word of English. All of his jobs were working whatever in kitchens where everyone else was polish. About two years ago he took a job at a Fish and chips stand where not a single person spoke Polish. He was forced to adapt and I can vouch that his English is now quite good. Like other Pols I’ve met he was very helpful, friendly, full of life and seemingly very happy to living and working in Ireland. He dropped me in the village of Lisdoonvarna and strongly recommended I come back in a week for the Match Making Festival.

I stood next to the road displaying my sign for Galway with a smile for nearly an hour. I was getting cold in the cloudy wind and needed a toilet so I walked a short distance into to town, found a restroom and checked on a backup plan, a bus schedule. I then returned to the road with my sign.

A friendly old farmer stopped and offered a ride a few miles down the road between towns but I turned it down thinking I could get stuck and might miss my backup plan. Not much longer another vehicle stopped.

The car that stopped was actually a small delivery van. He told me to throw my pack in the back. When I opened the back door I realized it was refrigerated and full of fresh goat cheese. Instead I threw my pack in the front and made enough room for comfort.

The delivery drivers name is Liam. He’s been delivering one of the few fine Goat Cheeses of Ireland for 3 years. He keeps his work interesting by picking up hitch hikers. Mainly foreign backpackers. Liam informed me that I was the first American backpacker he had ever met during his time delivering cheese.

Liam said he was passing through Galway and he could drop me right in the center. He then went on to tell me he had a long day and was going beyond Galway into Connemara. The roads he would be driving are no longer served by busses since it was past August 27 so I asked if I could continue further up along his route. “Absolutely”, he cheerfully replied.

So, all afternoon Liam and I talked about Ireland as he pointed out things along the way. We also talked about the economic crisis that is facing Ireland and he told me stories how people would go to the bank asking for 50,000 Euros. A usual response from the bank, with no hesitation, was that they would not loan them 50,000 but they could loan them 100,000. In other words the banks were making people barrow more than they wanted.

Before the delivery job Liam was making really good money in the construction trade doing tile work but he had enough horse sense to foresee the economic bubble about to burst. He started looking for something else and took his current job making considerably less money. His friends thought he was crazy. Six months later his friends were asking him if he knew they could find a job.

Up into Connemara we drove as Liam made stops at restaurants, delis, and shops along the way. He has his route down and is very efficient about it. Leenane was as far north as Liam was going and my “Lost Planet” guidebook said there was a hostel there. I got out and he handed me a big package of fresh garlic, honey, thyme goat cheese. I greatly thanked him as he quickly hopped back in his van and drove off.

There’s not much in Lenaane so I went to the store next to a pub and asked where the hostel was. The shop girl told me it was four miles back and a mile up a side road. It was 6 pm, raining, and kind of cold. I just figured I’d hang out at the shop and ask people for a ride. After standing there for a short while and asking a couple of folks the pub manager approached me and said, “Hostel? Ok, Come on”. I threw my pack in the back seat of his car and he drove me right to where I wanted to go.

The Sleepzone hostel is in the middle of nowhere Connemara. Aside of the fact that the area is absolutely beautiful it seemed like an odd location. The building is relatively newish, modern, and somewhat institutional. Kind of like a retreat center or something. All of the staff are French. Their eyes lit up when I walked in with Goat Cheese. The first thing they asked was if it was fresh. “Yep, made this morning”.

I put the cheese on a plate and broke out some bread I bought at the store next to the pub. The French were quite pleased with the cheese so a couple of them invited me to join them for dinner which was great because all I had was bread and goat cheese.

The hostel did not sell food but they did sell beer and wine. I got a Guinness and a lovely French woman got a bottle of wine. She was backpacking and hiking around Ireland by herself. That day she had packed a chicken from some village on the other side of some mountain along with some vegetables and lettuce for dinner.

Needless to say the dinner came out wonderfully. The French have a way with food. So there I was sitting and chatting with a somewhat young yet very attractive single backpacking hiking French lady after a day of easy travel and fresh goat cheese at a hostel in the middle of beautiful Connemara, Ireland. Just enjoying the conversation. “Oh, I see, you’re a firefighter. But your training to be a nurse, ohh, hmm, ahhh?” Then she tells me she’s Gay.

You never know where standing at a crossroads with a sign will lead you.